The phone rang at dawn. Another interview request. Another chance to explain what most people still can’t wrap their heads around. At 40 years old, with a partial knee replacement and five years removed from competitive skiing, Lindsey Vonn is back. Not just back. She’s hunting for her fifth Olympics.

“It feels like it wasn’t that long ago that we were talking about my retirement, and now we’re back,” Vonn told TODAY on Monday morning. But for those who’ve followed her career, this comeback isn’t about proving a point or chasing ghosts. It’s about unfinished business at a place that means everything to her: Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

The Mountain That Made Her

Cortina isn’t just another stop on the World Cup circuit for Vonn. It’s sacred ground. This is where everything clicked for a young American skier who was still figuring out if she belonged among the world’s elite. In 2004, she earned her first World Cup podium, a moment that changed everything.

“That was the first time I felt like I really belonged at the World Cup,” she reflected years later. Twenty years and 137 more podiums later, that feeling hasn’t faded. Neither has she dominance on this mountain. Vonn owns a record 12 career World Cup wins at Cortina, a staggering number that speaks to both her skill and her connection to this particular piece of Italian terrain.

“I know the mountain, I know where to go, I know what to do,” she said on Monday. “I feel just really calm and peaceful there.” That confidence isn’t misplaced bravado. It’s the voice of someone who has conquered this mountain more times than any other woman in history.

The Road Back Wasn’t Easy

Last season’s comeback was just the prologue. After partial right knee replacement surgery gave her a new lease on competitive life, Vonn returned to World Cup racing after five years away. The doubters were loud. The skeptics were many. Age doesn’t forgive in Alpine skiing, and the competition had only gotten fiercer in her absence.

But then March happened. In her final race of the season, at the World Cup Finals, Vonn didn’t just compete, she dominated. She shattered the record as the oldest women’s Alpine skiing World Cup podium finisher. This moment silenced every critic and proved that this comeback was anything but a publicity stunt.

That podium finish wasn’t just about breaking records. It positioned her perfectly for what really matters: earning one of four U.S. starting spots in downhill and super-G at the Milan-Cortina Olympics. The woman who was written off as finished just two years ago is now the favorite to become the oldest American skier in Olympic history.

Experience vs. Youth

The mathematics of age in professional skiing is brutal. Reflexes slow. Recovery takes longer. The margin for error shrinks with every passing year. But Vonn has something her younger competitors don’t: institutional knowledge of the Olympic track that money can’t buy.

“It [age] helps me a lot because I’ve raced on the Olympic track more than any other woman that’s in the starting gate,” she explained. “That experience is a lot. You know, I may not physically be as spry as these youngsters, but I’m still in really good shape. I think, honestly, this is some of the best shape I’ve ever been in.”

This isn’t the desperate grasp of an athlete who can’t let go. This is calculated confidence from someone who knows exactly what she brings to the table. While her competitors are learning the nuances of Cortina for the first time, Vonn will be racing lines she’s perfected over decades. She’ll be navigating turns where she’s already tasted victory 12 times.

The Season Ahead

Vonn is expected to make her World Cup season debut in St. Moritz, Switzerland, from December 12-14. It’s been months since her last competitive runs, but the woman who once dominated World Cup skiing isn’t approaching this as a rust-shaking exercise. She’s treating it as the beginning of an Olympic campaign.

The path to Milan Cortina isn’t guaranteed. She needs to prove she belongs among the top four American women in downhill and super-G. But if last season’s finish is any indication, Vonn isn’t just planning to qualify. She’s planning to contend. At 40, with rebuilt knees and everything to prove, she’s somehow in the best shape of her life and heading to the one mountain where she’s never been beaten when it mattered most.

Final Thoughts

This isn’t a farewell tour. This is Lindsey Vonn coming home to finish what she started 20 years ago. The mountain remembers her. The records speak for themselves. And in February, we’ll find out if there’s still magic left in those rebuilt knees on the slopes where a legend was born.

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